The invention relates to the fixing of motor-vehicle equipment onto a structural element of this vehicle.
It relates in particular to the mounting of heat exchangers, for example the radiator of the circuit for cooling the engine, or the condenser of an air-conditioning loop of an installation for ventilation, heating and/or air conditioning of the passenger compartment of the vehicle, or the vent of a motor-driven fan unit of this installation.
It applies in particular, but not in a limiting way, to the mounting of these items of equipment on a facade of the vehicle (front face), particularly produced in the form of a modular unit provided with various items of equipment (cooling radiator, headlamps, etc.), prepared and delivered by the equipment manufacturer and advantageously ready to be mounted on the vehicle by the builder.
A heat exchanger of the abovementioned type can generally be fixed onto the structural element of the vehicle by means of metal springs provided in the upper area of the structural element, on the one hand, and of elastic damping studs in the lower part, on the other hand. The springs thus make it possible to take up the various dimensional tolerances and allow the mounting of different types of radiators by virtue of their flexibility. The abovementioned elastic studs, for their part, provide damping and centering on the structural element.
However, this mounting technique requires the fitting of attached elements (springs and fixing pins) implying additional cost relating to the supplementary components to be provided and to the time necessary to mount them in the assembly process.
One of the objects of the invention is to remedy this difficulty by proposing a novel mounting configuration making it possible to reduce the number of components necessary for assembly, to provide rapid mounting and to preserve sufficient flexibility to accept several different, types of equipment.
The present invention is thus an improvement on the situation.
It relates to a device for fixing motor-vehicle equipment, especially a heat exchanger, onto a structural element of the vehicle including an open part in which the equipment is mounted.
According to the invention, the fixing device includes at least two shoes arranged on either side of the equipment while the structural element includes at least two substantially parallel inner rims delimiting the abovementioned open part. Each shoe bears on one of the rims, on the one hand, and on an outer prominent surface of the equipment, on the other hand. The shoes are produced from a deformable material so that the equipment is mounted by force between the shoes. Hence, the fixing of the equipment by means of deformable shoes makes it possible to damp the vibrations to which the equipment may be subject and to increase the limits of manufacturing tolerance of the equipment and of the structural element.
In order to facilitate the mounting of the equipment between the two rims of the structural element, at least one of the rims carries a supplementary bearing surface for at least one of the shoes, projecting in a plane substantially perpendicular to the surface of the rim. Hence, the equipment is mounted by pivoting about a ridge formed by the intersection of this bearing surface and the surface of the rim.
Advantageously, the structural element includes a housing for each shoe, comprising side walls projecting from the rims. Hence, each shoe is immobilized with respect to a direction substantially parallel to the rim.
According to another advantageous characteristic of the present invention, the shoes exhibit a substantially xe2x80x9cUxe2x80x9d shape, and the two legs of the xe2x80x9cUxe2x80x9d, are in close contact with the equipment so as to hold it substantially fixed in a plane passing through the two rims.
In order to immobilize the equipment with respect to a direction parallel to the rim, the device according to the invention further includes means for clipping the equipment onto at least one lateral rim which the structural element includes, adjacent to the two rims.
In order to form the abovementioned clipping means, the equipment includes at least one inclined plane projecting from an outer side wall, this inclined plane being suitable for interacting with a substantially matching housing which the lateral rim of the abovementioned structural element includes.
Advantageously, the shoes are produced from a material with a high coefficient of friction, in particular in interaction with the abovementioned prominent wall of the equipment, this material especially being of the type comprising a rubber.